George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
George Mason
Volleyball Sweats Out 3-1 Win Over George Mason
9/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2005
FAIRFAX, VA -- Sophomore outside hitter Janine Brown continued her stellar play by posting her fourth double-double of the season with a team-high 17 kills and 12 digs to lead the visiting Colonials past George Mason, 3-1, Tuesday night at GMU's steamy Linn Gym. The Colonials prevailed by the scores, 30-20, 27-30, 30-21, 30-23, in a sweaty two-hour match.
GW junior Juliene McLaughlin led the team with 15 digs while Lindsey Vernand accounted for nine kills. Shannon Parks had a pair of block solos and assisted on a third.
The Patriots' Jacqueline Kohler led all players with 22 kills and hit .308 with 16 digs. Niki Bernardes added 10 kills but committed 11 misfires. Julie Flanders hit .438 with eight kills for George Mason (3-7).
"This was a match we had to win and we did," GW head coach Jojit Coronel said afterward. "Our middles and outsides got better and got the job done. Now we look toward Xavier."
The Colonials took charge early with an 8-1 spurt to open game one. GW's lead ballooned to 20-9 and were leading 28-20 when GMU senior Natalia Porosa went down during a rally with an apparent knee injury. Following a five-minute delay trainers tended to Porosa, GW closed out the game with a dink kill by Kelly Kabbes followed by a block assist by Kaimana Lee and Abigail Hatter.
GW lost its focus to begin game two committing six errors of various types allowing the Patriots to go up 12-4. GMU led 22-14 before GW scored five unanswered points to close within 22-19. Mason increased its lead to 28-23 before the Colonials again reeled off four of the next five points for a 29-27 deficit. Mason's Janelle Wilson ended the game with a kill to knot the match at 1-1.
In game three it was Mason's turn to give away points on errors as they committed a pair of ball-handling errors and a pair of attack errors to give GW a 6-1 lead. GW maintained a comfortable cushion and coasted to the 30-21 victory.
In game four, GW again took control early racing out to leads of 6-1 and 9-3 before Mason got untracked and closed the gap to 21-17. A pair of McLaughlin kills boosted GW's lead to 27-20 and Brown, who sliced the Patriot defense with precision placement all night, ended the match with a kill down the line.
GW (4-7, 0-0 A-10) next opens A-10 Conference play on the road at Xavier Friday in Cincinnati. It marks the Colonials second trip to Cincinnati in two weeks after competing in the State Farm Bearcat Invitational at the University of Cincinnati last weekend. GW will stay in Ohio for a match at Dayton Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
